The Cartomancer: In Love and War

Last updated on: September 23, 2015 at 4:00 pm by Camelia Elias

The Cartomancer: In Love and War 2015-09-23T12:44:01+00:00 Camelia Elias

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Aurora Consurgens | Alchemical Manuscript ca. 1400

Aurora Consurgens | Alchemical Manuscript ca. 1400 | Creative Commons

‘I’m too close to it and I can’t see it,’ people often say when they are in love. But this is not your usual statement when your love is clear, when you know that there are no questions to ask, and you need no answers.

When your love is clear it is part of the infinite beyond. When your love is clear you are not concerned with cultural perceptions of time. You are not concerned with ‘and what happened afterwards’. Clear love is always beautiful as it bypasses worry and risk-taking. Clear love is beyond questions and answers, cultural and physical laws.

Illuminated manuscript | Koninklijke Bibliotheek, KB, KA 16, Folio 81v

When your love is clear it places you in a state of flow and bliss. When you experience the blink of ‘no consciousness’, you experience magic. The magic of seeing the other without a cultural agenda, without thinking instantly, ‘gosh, what a grand wedding we’re going to have,’ or, ‘how wonderful it’s going to be to populate the earth with more children,’ participating also in the capitalist grand scheme of ‘more production.’

When love is clear it is visionary. It is violent and hard. It is not logical and it has no meaning. When love is clear it makes you feel as if you’re as clean and pure as the wild flowers in a field and the morning dew. When your love is clear it makes you say ‘yes’ to the freedom of it, not bondage. When your love is clear, you tremble with desire beyond its affirmation in time.

THE BUSINESS OF LOVE

A fortuneteller has no business with such love. I get to experience a lot of love that lacks the clarity of the stars.

When people feel ‘involved’ they worry about the other and the other’s perception of them: ‘What does he think of me? Will we make it together? Perhaps we can still have that moment of saying ‘yes’ by the altar, even though we both know that something is off. Our families will be so happy for us. The bank too. It will give us a loan for our dream house, so we can both pay for it.’

When people feel their emotions engaged in the business of love, they want to know how things stand: ‘Love is love, but where do we stand?’ Some, more conscious of the discursive power of love, want to know what the next step is. ‘Is this relationship a good idea? Is there something that I must be aware of? What must I do? Is there something that I need to avoid?’

People think of their future when they want to take love to the ‘next level’. They want to die having someone holding their hands. They want their children to say thank you. Fair enough. Most of our actions revolve around giving in to either our desires or fears, or both.

Illuminated Manuscript | Creative Commons

Illuminated Manuscript ca. 1300 | Creative Commons

DESIRES AND FEARS

A fortuneteller operates with this: The space between the articulation of desires and fears. She operates with the production of clarity and novel ideas in relation to the construction and deconstruction of our desires and fears.

A fortuneteller is a psychoanalyst with a lightsaber in her hand. ‘Keep talking,’ she says, and after each sentence her weapon makes words disappear. She knows that language construes our fears and desires.

The patient is bleeding on the couch. ‘I’m so in love, and it hurts so much.’

‘You need a strategy,’ the fortuneteller says, and she makes more words become ghosts. ‘Without a strategy you’re dead. The minute you will say ‘yes’, language will get you. Culture will get you. Saying yes to contractual love is declaring war to your freedom.’

Aurora Consurgens | Alchemical Manuscript ca. 1400

Aurora Consurgens | Alchemical Manuscript ca. 1400 | Creative Commons

‘Ok,’ the other says, ‘I’m ready. Where do we stand? I’m not in the infinite yet. I just want to get married and have children. I want a big house. I want my parents and the neighbors to approve of me. I want them to see my sexual prowess.’

‘So, you’re not in love, then, in the love that’s clear?

‘Fuck love, I want to know where we stand. What is at stake in this situation? What must I do and what must I avoid? Can I go ahead with this relationship, or not?’